Milk bottle tops and paper bags...

28th-30th Sanchey, France

...is this what we

...really want to see?

NO NO NO

What miserable weather? What is it like there?

Its taken two days to dry our clothes! We have done a bit of shopping and had lunch in the equivalent of Macdonalds. Not good. On the up I had the best day on 29th...we did 10 mile bike ride along a really long bike path (no roads this time) and I loved it. Pouring with rain, next to a canal ..pete wearing a pink poncho (sorry too wet for camera), amazing calves by the way. We happened to stop at a Boulangerie where Pete immersed with an array of cakage. When the rain was too heavy we stopped under a tree, kids asleep in trailer and together we ate the BEST cake I have ever had - apple pie, with a custard filling, topped with almonds and pistachios. Wowsa. Get cooking ladies, I would like to see you beat that one.

Oh and a very funny story...

Pete wanted to wash his van, so we stopped at a garage.

Six Euros would be enough money...but six euros didnt quite make it. As I saw him put more money in...I heard numerous loud bangs spontaneously hitting the van...after which I saw Pete sprinting and diving around the van and suffice to say we have our second dint, slightly larger. The jet hose went off automatically and was flying all over the carwash. Very impressive dive though...as he got back into the car, I could see Pete was really disappointed in himself. He coughed and we carried on driving.

We are now in the car to Switzerland. Hoping the weather will be better.

Au revoir!

Love to all x

A kiss in a cave

25th-28th Luxembourg, Luxembourg -26c sunny!

Wow what a day! Where do I start? Yesterday we spent most of the day travelling, it should have taken us 3 hours but with all the stops it took all day. I generally never travel during the day with the kids and yesterday was a healthy reminder why... Jackson cried most of the

way, wilson was always starving. we ended up

splitting the car seats; one front, one back so now I have to shout to talk to pete but anything is better than that crying...

We arrived at the campsite about six... Got the kids showered and changed, shoved them in the bike trailer and went to explore. First observations; Nice hot showers, clean bog, male receptionist that can't speak English (handy), lots of tall tree forests interspersed with high grown corn fields which caught me attention above all. I stopped skidded my bike right next to them (skill) they reminded me of so many films "Perhaps I'll run through it..." I thought, "...pretend there's something chasing me' (signs with mel Gibson). I'd love that, the

corn stalks are taller than me, but who would find me if I got lost,? could I get lost? The mice crushed the dream this time but one day.

Today we woke up early, it's was going to be lovely day:) we wanted to see the 26km medieval caves under the city and do general sightseeing for the day. The city was 6km from us we wanted to bike but was told it wasn't suitable for that and the bus was better at 6euros. We thought; How bad could it really be to bike?! So we biked in looking smug past the queue of bus lovers. Fast forward to pete shouting at me to 'just keep biking!" . We hit city traffic and a slip road onto a motorway, luxembourgs equivalent to m25. Crossing past this meant cutting up loads of fast traffic and I was already separated from pete and bottling it. 6 euros for bus? Ok I'll take it...considering that pete needed to buy a bike lock for 20euros (apparently I'm lucky he got one that cheap) and a must-needed saddle bag (17 euros..glup) for that one weatherproof lock and for our puncture repair kit (that we left in the van). No. seriously, we need these. ;)

I have to admit that the exchange rate of the euro is so bad on the pound that I've become slightly worried about our budget... My morals have changed and didn't feel at all bad the other day entering through the exit doors of the atomium in Brussels. It cost 25p to go for a wee... I'll find a bush thanks. I bet those little plump women sporting a furry beard pulling a face like a bulldog chewing on a wasp are raking it in. Why look so sad? It's not like u can smell shi'ne your buckles with brasso..." all day!

So we made it alive to Luxembourg and had a lovely lunch in the centre. Pete had his favourite dessert, 'ille flotant'. We have attempted to make this dish at home before and it just tasted of egg, this one tasted delicious .Wilson was trying to kill the infestation of wasps with petes steak flag and Jacko was chucking all his food offered off his new travel highchair, thankfully we were outside.Caves were mad, how did they do it? Petes comments were along the lines of "I wonder how many people died making these tunnels" and mine, "imagine if all the lights went out" wilson is a liability on the never-ending , concrete spiral stairs. He goes too fast and looses his foot regularly....insisting we "follow the leader" At one point the stairs had no lights and on approach smelt of wee. Cheap skates! "stink bum stairs" Wilson says. Jackie the little man never made a peep and is so mesmerised looking at everything from his little backpack.

.... And finally.... Yes we may have had a little kiss in a cave. The first kiss I felt nada but the second was rather nice!!!

Homeward bound and a few ice-creams later, we are exhausted and completely ready for crashing out in the pop up back at the van. Really didn't want to bike home. As pete belted up the kids, the stand on his bike gives way and smashes on the floor. A regular occurrence as it did it outside our van and landed on it (first dint) This time though it punctures his wheel! Stranded, the fun is only just beginning. We look to other parked bikes for a puncture repair kit. Tourist info give us directions to a shut down bike shop. It's 6pm and everywhere shutting. I'm thriving off this kind of adventure, although not enjoying crying children again. Last call of desperation I shout 'excuse me' to professional-looking cyclist... Who happens to be called eddie, who owns a car with a bike rack... Who took us home. Nice one Eddie. Whatta guy;)

I've got a migraine. Off to bed;)

PS Wilson hit it off in the park and made a girl friend today, her name is Rosanna, shes is five. They kept waiting for each other in the park morning and night. He asked me to get her email address. Love him xxx

PPS If ur trying to call me, call Petes phone...hes the one with package deal not me as I thought originally:)

Linds: “Pete, there are people looking over from their caravan…get your clothes on”. Pete: “Linds, it’s ok! Remember where are we...we’re in Belgium”

25th July - Gent, Belgium 25 c. Cloudy

We arrived VERY tired into Calais at about 10am our time this morning (after a night of partying at Alices, thank you Alice, was lovely to see everyone too!) and we started off driving for the sake of driving for a while, JUST to see if we could still drive on the other side of the road. Shambles initially but we did it. Enough was enough, time for breakfast. The center of Calais was as I remembered from school Geography field trips; clean & orderly with the odd scattering of macdonalds (which lets fce it when youre embarking on fairly new travels, why does seeing a macdonalds sign make you feel that everything is going to be ok, ironic when it’s the thing that will kill my kids if I fall prey to yet another happy meal). Petes first observation however wasn’t about the croissants we were about to purchase it was of a man wearing “a beautiful Sunday morning outfit”…I could tell Pete was jealous as this distinguished man strutted confidently past our car window wearing those really really tight cycling shorts which aren’t cycling shorts at all (suggesting they shouldn’t be worn at all). I love watching pete checking someone out, his does this side smile, hes glad to see the bravery; “look at him…hes got a bum bag and hes tucked his t-shirt in”

Croissant delicious. Baguette perfect.

Didn’t take long to get to Belgium but we had to stop for a rest. Service stations as they should be, it was mad…A picnic bench full of really reall

y orthodox Jews, a huge man asleep on a massive blow-up bed, OUTSIDE his tent which was pitched in front of his converted ambulance and it seemed like everyone knew everyone, particularly helping the many with car bonnets up. It was time to put up the pop up top and go for a kip. This van still feels such a novelty and I cant help peek out the window at peoples reactions when the roof starts going up; secretly thinking I cant go to the toilet looking like this they’ll know Im trailer trash…so I popped some makeup on first, put my celeb shades on and thought what was the point of doing my makeup!? I will always be Jenny from the block even when I have a lot, I couldn’t disguise it. Whilst we regularly get beeped by our fellow VW Californians, I cringe inside as I wave back like a desperate housewife thinking ‘its not what it looks like, were humble folk with pram in the boot taken out of the skip’.

Gent, Belgium is lovely; like a mini Venice...

We pitched up after finding space at a very busy campsite and immediately took the bikes off, kids trailer attached and bobs your uncle…FREEDOM! This is it, we are starting our holiday. Yes!

Riding through quaint streets, along tram lines and it was amazing. I prefer cycling than walking, its quicker and you see loads without feeling compelled to read the small print. I wondered how long it ha

d been since I last rode, noting how confident I was… it was probably a year or so. I remembered falling of my bike, always from clipping my wheel on a kerb, drain or stone…the tram lines looked primed for

me this time and my judgement waivered for a minute but we survived. Here is some piccis of the town, a little boat ride with a free ice-cream and a very irritating guide reminiscent of a horse racing commentator in three European languages!

Ok, hour ahead. Off to the pop up…to pop off, hoping nothing unexpected pops upJ

Is France a shop?

Good Morning! Here is the plan, can you believe we have a plan?...Hopefully we will get to post on here daily, so here goes... the van is packed, the bikes are serviced... money, passports, blah blah blah. Packing is the worst part of going on holiday for me, making sure we have something for every eventuality. Im just thinking was is the most unnecessary item in that van? Its got to be the wart remover. Mucho lovas! x

The Practice Run

For all those that care to know what we are doing whilst prancing around Europa...welcome:)

We thought it would nice to keep a blog, so not to repeat ourselves when we come back (cause we forget) and also because we'll miss you (a bit) and hope you'll be in touch too. It will be free (local rate) to call us anytimeso feel free...

We catch the euro tunnel this Sunday at 6am and come back Mon 23rd August, thats a few weeks. We have our plan of where and when we will be 'frolicking and finding' and I hope to post that on here soon should anyone have a burst of spontaneity and want to join us our here!!!

So we had our first practice run last weekend in the peak district. We arrived fairly late (10pm) and I was getting a sweat on about where

we will stay for the night, kids were both awake. We immediately hit our first problem...the internet campsite lead us down some narrow lane with a querky bridge with what felt like a 40% gradient, there we were in the rain wit

h no turning circle co-ordinates says 'here is the campsite', nada. I laugh at the rhetoric between Pete and I as we keep suggesting to go further

into the deep dark unknown (to what seemed like now a bridle path) and he keeps asking me to just 'find a campsite'.

In attempting to be moral and honest we ended up doing our usual ad-lib antics and found a very busy campsite with the gates open, and no-one in reception ...we thought that was nice of them:)

Pitching up was tent free and frankly brilliant but with all of us stuck in it and raining outside the van seemed like alice in wonderlands room after she ate the cake(or is that the drink?).

As you can see the kids just laugh at us constantly especially as the

alarm goes off. It was a little stressful, its not like I thought it would be; running a little house is easy but frustrating when you had loads of space before, but this van space takes my

fathers 5'p's (Prior, planning, prevents, poor/or another 4 letter word, performance) to the extreme. Everything you move is in the way or making something else malfunction. You're always touching someone or something you shouldn't, total personal space invasion. There are some banging of heads proceeded by more laughing from the children BUT you cant beat being in that pop up roof, hearing the river, sucking that nature in, leaving all the world behind. I love it when you can put life in perspective. Family is all that matters and at that end of the night I lay there forced-spooning with all my sleeping family and I am happy...

...Ritually, my mind turns to someone else who I insanely miss and wish to be here. As I drift off to sleep I hear someone fart and I smile, everything seems to be in order, for now.